The present invention generally relates to powered handpieces for driving surgical cutting instruments. More particularly, it relates to a control system for interfacing with a powered surgical handpiece and controlling operation thereof.
Powered surgical handpieces are commonly used in many medical specialties to drive surgical blades or cutting instruments for performing various diverse cutting functions including resection, comminution, dissection, debridement, shaving, drilling, pulverizing, and shaping of anatomical tissue. In the areas of ENT/head/neck surgery, the handpieces are typically configured for selective coupling to, and driving of, a variety of different micro-cutting surgical instrument design to perform a specific procedure. During use, based upon the specific surgical procedure, the surgeon selects the appropriate micro-cutting tool and mounts it to the powered handpiece. The powered handpiece is then operated to move one or more components of the micro-cutting tool (e.g., rotation, oscillation) required to perform the surgical operation. As a point of reference, the rotational requirements typically required by a powered surgical handpiece for ENT/head/neck procedures range from about 500 rpm for a laryngeal skimming operations to in excess of 60,000 rpm for high-speed drill operations. The common speed range of the powered surgical handpiece is from about 300 rpm to about 80,000 rpm.
In addition to motor improvements, such as use of brushless DC motors, overall systems have been developed for use with the powered surgical handpiece and related surgical micro-cutting instruments. A typical system, in addition to a powered handpiece and one or more micro-cutting instruments, includes a control console and a cable that connects the handpiece to the console. The control console is configured to activate and/or control energization of the motor otherwise associated with the powered surgical handpiece. For example, a hand or foot switch can be provided as part of the system. Depending upon the surgeon's manipulation of the foot or hand switch, a corresponding signal is delivered to the control console that, in turn, energizes the handpiece to a corresponding speed.
The improved capabilities of powered surgical handpieces, as well as the vast number of available surgical micro-cutting instruments now available, have undoubtedly greatly increased the number of ENT/head/neck procedures that a surgeon can perform utilizing a single surgical system. However, with the substantial expansion in available procedures, the opportunity for improper device selection and/or operation has arisen. That is to say, because a surgeon can now use a single handpiece with a variety of different micro-cutting instruments to perform a number of different procedures, it is possible that surgical personnel may inadvertently operate the handpiece at settings that are less than optimal for a particular surgical procedure. For example, a surgeon performing a laryngeal tricut procedure with a micro-resecting instrument may accidentally attempt to operate the powered handpiece at speeds well in excess of the recommended 1,200 rpm limit because the surgeon has failed to adjust the control panel settings from a previous, different procedure; surgical personnel have been unable to recall the preferred settings, etc. Other operational settings, such as rotational mode (e.g., forward, reverse, oscillate), irrigation settings, etc., must also be determined and properly implemented by the surgical personnel, again increasing the opportunity for error.
Powered surgical handpieces, and in particular, powered handpieces configured to selectively receive a multitude of different micro-cutting instruments useful for ENT/head/neck surgeries, are highly desirable. However, the enhancement of available features may give rise to unintentional misoperation. Therefore, a need exists for an interactive powered surgical handpiece control system that controls surgical handpiece operation while providing information, assistance and/or control to the surgeon specific to a particular surgical operation.